Crimes include such things as murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, possessing or selling illegal drugs, appearing nude on a public street, drunken driving, and bank robbery. The list of acts considered crimes is constantly changing. For example, at one time, people were charged with witchcraft, but this is no longer illegal. Today, it is becoming a serious crime to pollute the air and water. In colonial days, pollution received little attention because it caused few problems. During the 1700's in England it was not a crime for people to steal money entrusted to their care by an employer. Today, this type of theft, embezzlement, is a crime.

Crimes may be classified in various ways. For example, they sometimes are grouped according to the seriousness of the offense, according to the motives of the offenders. Such crimes may include economic crimes, political crimes, crimes of passion, organized crime, and white collar crime. Crimes are often divided between acts that most people would consider evil and acts that lawmakers decide should be regulated in the interest of the community. The first

Group includes such major crimes as arson, assault, breach of the peace, burglary, kidnapping, larceny, murder, rape, and robbery. The second group

Includes crimes of a «rapidly growing urban society.» These crimes include violations of income tax laws, liquor control regulations, pure food and drug laws, and traffic laws. Crimes in the first group usually involve severe punishments while crimes in the second group are generally punished by fines, notices to follow the court's orders, or other relatively light penalties.

Crimes are frequently classified according to their seriousness as felonies or misdemeanors. Generally, felonies are more serious than misdemeanors. Under the federal criminal law system, felonies are crimes for which the punishment is death or imprisonment for more than a year. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for less than a year. In most states persons convicted of felonies are sent to state prisons, while those quilty of misdemeanors serve their sentence in city or county jails or houses of correction.

Crimes against people include assault, kidnapping, murder, and sexual attacks. Such crimes usually bring severe punishments. Crimes against property include arson, automobile theft, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny, and vandalism. In most cases, these crimes carry lighter penalties than do crimes against persons. Robbery is the crime most difficult to classify. The

Law considers robbery a crime against the person or against the property, according to the case. Robbery may involve simply taking property from another person. But a personal encounter occurs between the robber and his victim, and it may include violence and bodily harm, especially in muggings or other strong-arm robberies. Robbery is probably the crime most people have in mind when they speak of «crime in the streets.»

Crimes against public order or morality include disorderly conduct, gambling, prostitution, public drunkenness, and vagrancy. These offenses generally involve lighter penalties than do crimes against people or property. Criminologists question whether some offenses against public order or morality should be considered crimes. For example, many experts believe that habitual drunkenness is a medical problem and that the offender should be given medical help instead of being put in jail. There is also widespread disagreement about whether certain practices hurt society and should be considered crimes. Such acts include gambling, use of marijuana, and homosexuality between consenting adults.

Organized crime consists of large-scale activities by groups of gangsters or racketeers. Such groups are often called the «crime syndicate or the underworld.» Organized crime specializes in providing illegal goods and services. Its activities include gambling, prostitution, the illegal sale of drugs, and loaning money at extremely high rates of interest. Many of these activities

Are often called «victimless crimes» because both the buyer and the seller take part in them willingly. Most activities of the crime syndicate are not reported to the police. People who use the illegal services try to avoid the police because they do not want to be associated with that kind of people. When the crime syndicate invades a legitimate business or labor union, it uses terror, blackmail, and other methods to keep people from going to the police. Even when the illegal activities are discovered, prosecutors have difficulty convicting the gangsters because of the lack of reliable witnesses. In addition, the syndicate frequently tries to bribe witnesses or law officers and sometimes succeeds in doing so. The syndicate also furnishes bail money and lawyers for members who are arrested. Gangsters have two main goals and they are money and power. No one knows how much of each that they truly have, but investigations have shown that organized crime is a multimillion-dollar business and that gangsters have considerable political control.

White collar crime originally included only criminal acts committed by businessmen and professional people while earning their living. The term referred to such crimes as stock market swindles and other kinds of fraud. Today, the term covers such acts as cheating in the payment taxes, which can be done in connection to your business. It may apply to petty thefts by employees, as well as to million dollar stock market swindles. It could also include a service stations owner's charging for an automobile repair that was not made, or a physician's billing a patient for services that were not performed. Many consumer protection laws are aimed at whitecollar crime. these laws regulate business and professional activities to protect consumers. During the 1960's and early 1970's, consumer protection became one of the fastest growing fields of criminal law. In the United States, for example, the federal government developed new rules and penalties. The regulations were intended to control air and water pollution, to prevent fraudulent trade practices, and to alert people seeking loans about actual interest costs.

Crime is one of the world's oldest social problems. Almost every generation has felt itself threatened by increasing crime and violence. However, no country has yet developed completely reliable methods for measuring the volume and trend of crime. The FBI serves as the main source of information about crime and violence in the United States. The FBI has maintained national crime statistics for nearly 70 years. the FBI receives monthly and annual crime reports from the law enforcement agencies throughout the country which is later summarized and published in semiannual and annual Uniform Crime Reports for the United States. The seven most popular crimes reported to the police according to the FBI are aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, nonegligent manslaughter, burglary, larceny\theft, and motor vehicle theft. One fourth of the arrests each year are due to serious crimes while one fifth of all the arrests are due to three relatively minor offenses; drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and vagrancy. Here is a table that I found pretty interesting.

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